Consistency for NW200 Ducati
It was a consistent day for the NW200 Ducati team at Donington
Park, Monday 26th May. In the blustery conditions Michael
Rutter on the North West 200 Ducati F08 gained two eighth
positions in the Bennetts British Superbike series with his
team-mate John Laverty on the Buildbase NW200 1098 R Ducati
securing a win and second place in the Daily Star Cup races.
Fresh from his Superbike win at the North West 200 last week,
Rutter was eager to continue his form and retain his fourth
position in the overall Championship. In the wet conditions
for Sunday's qualifying at Donington he secured a fantastic
front row start, putting the NW200 Ducati in third position
on the grid.
Electrical problems during morning warm up on Monday forced
Rutter to ride his spare bike in both races. The 36-year-old
got fantastic starts in the two 20-lap races and was battling
with the front runners for a podium position. Struggling with
power out of the corners he was unable to match the pace of
the leaders and was left in a lonely eighth position in both
Superbike races.
A disappointed Rutter commented "I'm
a bit gutted to have finished where I did as it's my worst
results of the season so far. I've found it difficult all
weekend to find a good set up and with the rain yesterday
we missed out on vital dry track time. The circuit was very
greasy and that meant the bike was moving around a lot more
than normal. I was really happy with my qualifying position
and upset with myself that I wasn't able to turn that into
two strong race finishes. The team was again worked very hard
and it's been an extremely busy month for us all, we went
from Oulton to Brands, then the North West and now here, it
will be nice to have a few weeks off and allow us all too
fully recharge our batteries and be back in fighting form
at Snetterton."
John Laverty further extended his lead in the Daily Star Cup
Championship; he now holds an 84-point advantage from his
nearest rival Martin Jessopp. Laverty once again took a stunning
win in the Cup and a solid second in the second race. The
youngster from Ballymena, Northern Ireland secured two 16th
places in the overall Championship narrowly missing out on
the points.
John said "I'm really pleased with the
results that I got at Donington today, the weather has been
so mixed over the weekend and we had to try a number of different
settings on the bike to get something that felt right. I think
the weather covered all aspects at Donington and gave us some
good data, which I'm sure will be useful in the future at
other rounds. The team have worked really well and I'm pleased
that I managed to get the results for them and I must thank
them all. Gary Mason is back in Superbikes now and he's running
in the Cup series so I'm sure he'll be pushing me hard at
future races and will be making me dig deep for the Championship
title. I'm looking forward to the break and coming back and
extending my lead further at Snetterton."
Race One Result
1 Byrne Ducati
2 Haslam Honda
3 Sykes Suzuki
8th Rutter North West 200 Ducati
16th J Laverty Buildbase NW200 Ducati
Race One Cup Result
1 J Laverty Buildbase NW200 Ducati
2 Mason Honda
3 Tunstall Honda
Race Two Result
1 Byrne Ducati
2 Haslam Honda
3 Crutchlow Honda
8th Rutter North West 200 Ducati
16th J Laverty Buildbase NW200 Ducati
Race Two Cup Results
1 Mason Honda
2 J Laverty Buildbase NW200 Ducati
3 Tunstall Honda
Championship Standings
Byrne 190
Crutchlow 122
Camier 107
Haslam 96
Ellison 88
Rutter 82
Cup Standings
J Laverty 171
Jessopp 87
Tunstall 84
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